Hillary Clinton on Monday called for a "return to common-sense gun safety reform," saying in a CNN interview that the issues of lax gun laws and terrorism were "connected" by the mass shooting in Orlando.

"We've got to take the fight to the terrorists wherever they are in order to keep ourselves safe at home," she said. "But we also have to be conscious of the fact that a lot of folks who have no connections to terrorism are using these weapons to murder and maim people as well."

Clinton also called Republican rival Donald Trump's response to the shooting "dangerous" and said she would "be happy" to use terms like "radical jihadism, radical islamism" but cautioned against declaring "war on an entire religion."

Trump said the weekend attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 50 people including the gunman dead was proof that the American war on terror was failing and that his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States was necessary. He also criticized Clinton and President Barack Obama for avoiding the term "radical Islam."

Clinton told MSNBC on Monday that she would, if elected, set up a team "dedicated to detecting and preventing lone wolf attacks," the type of terror threat security authorities and law enforcement have long said keeps them awake at night.

She said she'd work with "our tech companies to prevent online radicalization," a strategy that experts say militants exploit with sophistication to reach potential recruits in distant lands.

Clinton said radicalization must be "rooted out" in a "strong and smart way." This includes "denying jihadists virtual territory just as we work to deny them actual territory. Contest online space, including websites and chat rooms, where jihadists communicate."